By Justin Flynn
Perennial powerhouse North Geelong soundly defeated Grovedale to win the Geelong Cricket Association T20 Knockout competition final at Waurn Ponds on Tuesday February 27.
The Magpies won the toss and bowled first and had Grovedale in immediate trouble with Mitch Troy and Dale Kerr striking early. The pitch had a bit in it for the bowlers.
The Tigers slumped to 6/27 before a mini fightback by Josh Windus and Croey Paull took the score to 47.
Paull would go on to make 19 from 39 balls in a hard-fought knock, but North Geelong was too good with Tom Mathieson (2/8) and eventual player of the match Tom Webster (3/9) routing the Tigers for 69 in the 20th over.
Disaster struck on the second ball of North Geelong’s innings with spinner Bailey Sykes trapping Layton McCann for a duck, but there were no real anxious moments after that.
Nathan Harper grabbed two wickets and at one stage the Pies were 4/53, but they hadn’t made enough runs to defend.
Philip Visser top scored with 26 off 28 balls in a match where runs were hard to come by.
North Geelong passed the total four wickets down with seven overs to spare.
